The Manipulative Pastor -- Beware! By Brian Culver on February 12, 2010 | From time2changechurches.blogspot.com The music softly plays as the pastor speaks a heart-wrenching message. The tears are flowing throughout the whole congregation. The pastor wipes away his tears and somehow manages to compose himself to continue speaking. The music flows like a melody within our hearts and the message is like a dagger to the heart. It is sad, compassionate and sincere. It is uplifting and encouraging. Oh yes, the 4 Spiritual Laws were used. We serve a wonderful God! 1. God loves you: 1. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life," (John 3:16). 2. Man is sinful and separated from God. 1. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (Rom. 3:23); "For the wages of sin is death," (Rom. 6:23); "But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God," (Isaiah 59:2). 3. Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin. 1. "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me" (John 14:6); "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," (Rom. 5:8). 4. We must individually receive Jesus as Savior and Lord. 1. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name," (John 1:12); "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved," (Rom. 10:9); "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God," (Eph. 2:8). What is missing in the Four Spiritual Laws?
What is it? Ezekiel 14:6 says, "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations." Ezekiel 18:30 says, "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin." John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:2, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" How about Jesus?
Matthew 4:17 says, "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and [then] to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds. Do you see it? have you heard it? The manipulative pastor will not mention sin and the need to repent of sins. Why? Because it is offensive to a lost person! Now, if you have heard the manipulative pastor in the past or even in the present, take time to use some discernment...
Go past the point of the emotions of what was said but truly listen to what the message was and how it was said. Many times their messages are filled with stories. Not a complete biblical exegesis
Exegesis [ exègeisthai (to interpret)
Exegesis is what comes out of the Bible, as against what gets read into it. (Of course, the ways we use to find out from the Bible are often merely ways to put something into it 'between the lines'. That's really eisegesis in a Halloween costume.) In a more theological setting, exegesis means what comes from the use of certain methods of studying the Bible. Just about every imaginable method already has a name, and there are all sorts of mixes, but the main types are : • historical (using the form, word choices, editing work, historical context, main themes, and so on, to find what it meant back when it was written or when it happened), • canonical (treating the Bible as an whole document designed to be what a specific community lives by), • symbolic/allegorical (figuring out what each character and event represents), • rational (thinking it through using logic and deductive technique). A manipulative pastor will often times fill his sermon with jokes. Why? Because to do a proper exegesis, a proper study of the Word of God would take valuable time. Do you know that some pastors take as much as four hours of their time just researching what jokes to tell to the congregation? Another four hours are spent doing research on finding illustrations to go along with their Scripture of the day. If a worker was being paid by an employer to work, he would be fired for wasting so much of company time. Imagine how God feels about the manipulative pastor who wastes his time on the computer looking for jokes to tell as opposed to studying His Holy Word! Now, am I saying that it is always wrong to tell a joke or to tell a story? No. But the main characteristic of a manipulative pastor is to work on the emotions of the congregation. No where in the Bible does it tell us to do that! It is not the emotions that are against God. The bible tells us that it is our mind that is in enmity with God. It is the intellect. Telling jokes just makes the matter less serious to the hearer. I feel a book coming on the subject! As I leave you today, I want to leave you with two questions... IF A MAN DOES NOT VALUE THE WORD OF GOD ENOUGH TO SPEND HIS WHOLE TIME IN PREPARATION AND STUDY OF HIS WORD ALONE, THEN HOW CAN HE PROPERLY LEAD GOD'S PEOPLE IN THE RIGHT PATH? AND LASTLY, IF A MAN WANTS TO WORK YOUR EMOTIONS BY CRYING AND PLAYING SOFT MUSIC DURING HIS SERMON, DOES HE TRULY UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF GOD'S WORD TO SAVE? Pray that the Lord of the Harvest would bring men to preach the Word of God without fail!
Αυτό το μήνυμα πληροί τις προϋποθέσεις της ευρωπαϊκής νομοθεσίας περί μηνυμάτων προβολής. Κάθε μήνυμα θα πρέπει να φέρει τα πλήρη στοιχεία τού αποστολέα ευκρινώς και θα πρέπει να δίνει στον δέκτη τη δυνατότητα διαγραφής (Οδηγία 2002/31/CE και A5-270/2001 του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου). Αν επιθυμείτε να μην λαμβάνετε ενημέρωση στείλτε τη λέξη ΔΙΑΓΡΑΦΗ.
Εστάλη από το BlackBerry® smartphone.
www.blackberry.com
Παρακαλούμε σκεφθείτε σοβαρότατα το περιβάλλον πριν αποφασίσετε να εκτυπώσετε αυτό το μήνυμα.
What is it? Ezekiel 14:6 says, "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations." Ezekiel 18:30 says, "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin." John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:2, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" How about Jesus?
Matthew 4:17 says, "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and [then] to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place--unless you repent. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds. Do you see it? have you heard it? The manipulative pastor will not mention sin and the need to repent of sins. Why? Because it is offensive to a lost person! Now, if you have heard the manipulative pastor in the past or even in the present, take time to use some discernment...
Go past the point of the emotions of what was said but truly listen to what the message was and how it was said. Many times their messages are filled with stories. Not a complete biblical exegesis
Exegesis [ exègeisthai (to interpret)
Exegesis is what comes out of the Bible, as against what gets read into it. (Of course, the ways we use to find out from the Bible are often merely ways to put something into it 'between the lines'. That's really eisegesis in a Halloween costume.) In a more theological setting, exegesis means what comes from the use of certain methods of studying the Bible. Just about every imaginable method already has a name, and there are all sorts of mixes, but the main types are : • historical (using the form, word choices, editing work, historical context, main themes, and so on, to find what it meant back when it was written or when it happened), • canonical (treating the Bible as an whole document designed to be what a specific community lives by), • symbolic/allegorical (figuring out what each character and event represents), • rational (thinking it through using logic and deductive technique). A manipulative pastor will often times fill his sermon with jokes. Why? Because to do a proper exegesis, a proper study of the Word of God would take valuable time. Do you know that some pastors take as much as four hours of their time just researching what jokes to tell to the congregation? Another four hours are spent doing research on finding illustrations to go along with their Scripture of the day. If a worker was being paid by an employer to work, he would be fired for wasting so much of company time. Imagine how God feels about the manipulative pastor who wastes his time on the computer looking for jokes to tell as opposed to studying His Holy Word! Now, am I saying that it is always wrong to tell a joke or to tell a story? No. But the main characteristic of a manipulative pastor is to work on the emotions of the congregation. No where in the Bible does it tell us to do that! It is not the emotions that are against God. The bible tells us that it is our mind that is in enmity with God. It is the intellect. Telling jokes just makes the matter less serious to the hearer. I feel a book coming on the subject! As I leave you today, I want to leave you with two questions... IF A MAN DOES NOT VALUE THE WORD OF GOD ENOUGH TO SPEND HIS WHOLE TIME IN PREPARATION AND STUDY OF HIS WORD ALONE, THEN HOW CAN HE PROPERLY LEAD GOD'S PEOPLE IN THE RIGHT PATH? AND LASTLY, IF A MAN WANTS TO WORK YOUR EMOTIONS BY CRYING AND PLAYING SOFT MUSIC DURING HIS SERMON, DOES HE TRULY UNDERSTAND THE POWER OF GOD'S WORD TO SAVE? Pray that the Lord of the Harvest would bring men to preach the Word of God without fail!
Αυτό το μήνυμα πληροί τις προϋποθέσεις της ευρωπαϊκής νομοθεσίας περί μηνυμάτων προβολής. Κάθε μήνυμα θα πρέπει να φέρει τα πλήρη στοιχεία τού αποστολέα ευκρινώς και θα πρέπει να δίνει στον δέκτη τη δυνατότητα διαγραφής (Οδηγία 2002/31/CE και A5-270/2001 του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου). Αν επιθυμείτε να μην λαμβάνετε ενημέρωση στείλτε τη λέξη ΔΙΑΓΡΑΦΗ.
Εστάλη από το BlackBerry® smartphone.
www.blackberry.com
Παρακαλούμε σκεφθείτε σοβαρότατα το περιβάλλον πριν αποφασίσετε να εκτυπώσετε αυτό το μήνυμα.
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